Brighton Park

I am very behind on posting. I have a lot to post about progress in the house and, of course, how we celebrated the Superbowl and Saints' victory. Tonight, however, I thought I'd give our blog followers a bit of a heads up on our new neighborhood: Brighton Park.

[we're highlighted in red]

The Wikipedia entry will give you the bare bones of the history, but none of the intrigue. This entry from the Encyclopedia of Chicago is a little bit better. Here are some of the highlights that drew us to the neighborhood:

1. It is like a chapter out of Heath's thesis. With our proximity to the old stockyards, our new neighborhood bore witness to some of the intense capital vs. labor disputes at the turn of the century.
2. It is home to the (often invisible) people who keep Chicago running. Way back when, that was a lot of Eastern Europeans. Today, it is a predominantly working class, Hispanic neighborhood.
3. It is not gentrifying. While many of the majority Hispanic neighborhoods on the North and near South side are rapidly becoming hipster havens (yes, Pilsen, I'm calling you out), Brighton Park looks to have escaped the eye of most young urban professionals (present company excluded) and the developers that cater to them. This is perhaps most evident by the fact that anytime we tell someone about our new neighborhood, they usually ask, "Where?"

Yes, we are officially south siders. I don't know that we've fully switched allegiance from Cubs to Sox (only baseball season will tell), but as we've been working in the house almost every night over the past couple weeks and most weekends, we've started to find the "spots" that make Brighton Park feel more like home.

Perhaps most importantly, we think we've found a church. Nueva Vida - Los Parques is a Spanish-speaking congregation (yes, it's challenging and yes, we're enjoying it) that has been extremely kind and welcoming to us. Firmly rooted in its identity as a community church, we feel it is the perfect place to build relationship with our neighbors, even if it's not all we'd hope for in a liturgical sense. Tonight, Heath and I attended our first small group meetings which were nothing if not lively. There are many cultural differences (made all the more hilarious courtesy of the language barrier), but it is extremely moving to be embraced so whole heartedly in spite of those differences. It's exactly what we've hoped for and we are excited for what comes next.

Almost as important as our church (almost!) are our new favorite local restaurant and coffee shop. El Rey del Taco is an outstanding place to eat. Even better: It's walking distance from the house! Cafe el Meson is a hidden gem in a neighborhood not known for its coffee culture. Run by a well-connected local Christian guy, it serves good coffee, good food and offers free WiFi. What more could you ask for? Also within walking distance. And, while we may have to wait for summer to take advantage, we are also a hop, skip and a jump from a Tastee Freeze. Heck yeah!

We've had the chance to meet a few of neighbors—Armando and Ecidro from across the alley and Marta from next door—all of whom have been very warm and helpful.

We're chomping at the bit to just finish all this work and get fully moved in. We eagerly await the chance to show you all we love about Brighton Park...we're discovering something new each day.